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Strapped for Cash? Check the Housing and Mortgage Scene in Houston, Texas
By Jonathan Haeber
CMR Columnist
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Texas mortgages are quite reasonable, even for some of the most exclusive neighborhoods. In Houston, the country's fourth largest city, one can find glamorous eccentric homes built by oil tycoons. Yet, the city built on black gold still has some of the lowest median real estate prices in the nation.
Houston's Hottest Neighborhood
National Geographic Magazine recently profiled Houston's glitziest neighborhood: the upper-scale River Oaks, zip code 77019. As opposed to the exclusive Main Line of Philadelphia or Manhattan's Upper East Side, writes Mimi Swartz in National Geographic, the residents of Houston's upscale River Oaks neighborhood "tend to be more welcoming, less obsessed with pedigree, and more open to grand gestures and exhibition." The estates once owned by oil tycoons, writes Swartz, have now been bought up by energy executives and investment bankers.
Median Prices Remain Low in Texas
Despite the clash of old and new money in some of Houston's most exclusive neighborhoods, there are still quite a few places in the city to buy a house without busting your wallet.
The city's median home price stood at a very affordable $102,000 for 2005. Compare that with the earth-shattering median of $738,000 for San Francisco, and a Texas mortgage doesn't look so bad, after all. CNN Money predicts that median prices for Houston will grow 6.1 percent in 2006.
Houston's Potential for Price Growth
According to RealtyTimes contributor Doyle Cox, Houston's city center is going through a revitalization effort, and real estate will respond to that change with a rapid rise in median price.
If you feel you're being priced out of other higher-priced mortgage markets, even with low mortgage interest rates, then you should consider Texas mortgages as a great alternative.
Sources
Swartz, Mimi. "Survival of the Richest." National Geographic. March, 2006.
CNN Money: 2006 Home Price Predictions
About the Author
Jonathan Haeber is a marketing writer for Discovery Channel Stores. He recently purchased his first home and took a self-taught crash course in home mortgages.
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